I've wanted to do this for SO long and SO badly. Should've learnt my lesson long back. Never want anything this badly. I've no one to watch Harry Potter with. I wanted very much, to go with the people who've been on this journey with me ever since it started. Going to buy the books on the first day at 6 a.m., before even the bookstore opened. Playing Harry Potter character games for months on end at school. Discussing the plot obsessively. Discussing which poster of Harry Potter's to put up in our rooms equally obsessively. Randomly quizzing each other on obscure facts like Lockhart's favourite colour and the ghost of Hufflepuff and Dumbledore's full name and answering EVERYthing. I thought we'd all go together, to the movie, one last time. The very last time that we get to do something Harry Potter for the very first time. But it's not possible. They've gone on. I felt so hurt. I almost cried. HARRY POTTER. It's one of the biggest defining things of the last decade of my life. But I can't watch it. I'm not going to. I thought I'd go alone. But I won't.

Instead I'm going to read the books again. From the first. I'm more than halfway through the second one.

Thank you J.K.R. for one of the best constants in my life. For Harry, for Hermione, for Ron, for Fred and George and the whole wonderful fantastic world of Harry Potter. Thanks for letting this muggle in.

"This is an attack not just on Mumbai, it's an attack on all of India. Wake up PM!"

"My city is bleeding WTF are you doing Manmohan and Sonia?"

"It's time for all this to stop"

"It seems Mumbai has become a soft target"

The news channels milk the story for all it's worth. Lots of "Panel discussions" & "Exclusive coverage" and a week later, everyone forgets. Everyone.

So long, until the next bomb blasts and everyone emerges from their slumber, taking their high horses and being indignant and "unable to tolerate this sort of injustice."

Barkha Dutt on NDTV- "Most people are not familiar with the area, can you tell us how far apart the blast sites are? Why has Zaveri Bazar become a favourite target?"

My favourite TV9 - Over 150 people injured!!! Oh noesss!! *plays the same 10 second shaky camera footage over and over again*

On the college group on Facebook-

" Girl 1- It's Kasab's birthday today.

Girl 2- dis is his bday gift eh :|

Girl 3- !!!happpy bday!!! kasab!! lol! :P yeah best gift! :D "

Terror attacks just happened, and people are posting statuses about good games and bad networks and the beautiful beautiful weather. I sit here and stare at the screen. I don't know what to think of this. On one level I'm apalled. And disgusted. And I'm kind of like them too. I GOT to know that these attacks happened through facebook, at around 7: 15. I rush into the living room, where the grandmother is watching her daily soap and blurt out "Bomb blasts in Mumbai again!! THREE!!" and I'm met with the response "Yeah. I saw on the news, when I switched to the TV9 during Ads. 15 people died" while still watching the soap engrossed. I didn't know what to do. So I went back to facebook, where someone posted the link to watch the live coverage of the attacks. Someone who lived in London. But I clicked on it, and watched it, being in India. Having access to about a gazillion local channels, and a 46 inch plasma t.v. in perfectly working condition, and I have to resort to this.

And it is apparently NOT Ajmal Kasab's birthday today. It's the 13th of September, 1987 as per the Indian Govt records. And Wikipedia is not to be trusted. Damn you! WHO the hell would want to edit it and sensationalize news like this?